The rumor mill kicked into high gear last week when several sites, corroborated by evidence from unnamed PC OEMs, claimed some of Intel's future desktop CPUs would forgo processor sockets in favor of being soldered directly to motherboards. This move would theoretically render end users and system builders unable to swap out processors on their own.

At the time Intel had no official statement on the matter, but the company has now gone on the record with Maximum PC: “Intel remains committed to the growing desktop enthusiast and channel markets, and will continue to offer socketed parts in the LGA package for the foreseeable future for our customers and the Enthusiast DIY market. However, Intel cannot comment on specific long-term product roadmap plans at this time, but will disclose more details later per our normal communication process.”